A pepper’s endless potential

Hot peppers, sweet peppers — they're all hot items in the catalogues this spring, and every year there are more. What's up?

Peppers, which spread globally from the New World, were put to new and exciting uses everywhere they went. Although heat-loving, they were welcome even in northern countries such as Hungary, which became famous for its paprika. An accommodating crop for home gardeners, most require no staking and fit well in small spaces.

You might think it's all about looks. Even "green" peppers rarely stay that way, but progress to yellow, orange, red, chocolate brown or even a lustrous nearly-black purple hue, as with Purple Beauty from Pinetree Garden Seeds.

Often you get several color changes in sequence and can thereby grow a rainbow mix on one plant as the peppers mature. Purira from Seeds of Change is one such variety. With a pepper called Fish, carried by Seed Savers Exchange and others, the fruits are colorfully striped, with variegated foliage to boot. Filius Blue, from Baker Creek and West Coast Seeds, is a jewel box of multicolored little balls, nestled among blue-green leaves.

In the end, though, flavor counts the most. Want the sweetest pepper ever? Fedco Seeds says it's their Amish Pimiento. The hottest? Many claim it's the legendary Ghost from India, known there as Bhut Jolokia. Some peppers taste richer and fruitier than others, and it pays to try new ones to see which please your own set of taste buds.

Wise seed sellers match peppers with the dishes a gardener-cook might want to make. For stuffing, R.H. Schumway's recommends its Chinese Giant, six inches across. I'm drawn to Johnny's Selected Seeds' Eros and Cupid or Burpee's Cherry Stuffers, for a platter of babies you can eat in one or two bites.